Arthur Thorne:The importance of upholding the rule of law

Thursday

Aug 31, 2017 at 1:23 PMAug 31, 2017 at 1:23 PM

By Arthur L Thorne Special to The Daily News

We Americans are asked to put our faith in the legal system and Constitution of the United States. We are taught from an early age all citizens will be judged using the same laws regardless of their race, religion or social status.

Most Americans understand no system is perfect and mistakes which should not happen are inadvertently made. The majority of honest Americans take exception when the rule of law is not applied equally to the wealthy or influential in the same manner it is applied to all other citizens. For many American’s it is apparent some law breakers within our government are above the law and will never be prosecuted for their crimes. The individuals within our government whose are responsible for investigating and filing charges on employees or elected officials committing crimes are in collusion with these law breakers.

It is true because we have individuals admitting criminal activity on national television and nothing is being done. These kinds of illegal activities over a period of time pile up and like a snowball rolling downhill continues to grow until unintended consequences occur. These observable truisms viewed by many Americans are exactly why Donald J. Trump was elected President of the United States. The Presidential election of November 2016 was a repudiation of both parties because Trump was considered an alternative to the Democrats and Republicans.

The following information is true and verifiable within archives of government agencies. The biggest civil uprising which happened in this nation outside the civil war and where the terminology Red Neck originated occurred in West Virginia. When the Coal Miners in Southern West Virginia were trying to unionize the coal fields the owners brought in private detective agencies, Baldwin-Felts to illegally assault and subdue the coal miners. Miners were attacked with pick and ax handles, and forced to work when they tried to strike.

At times the miners were threatened with full automatic firearms. When a miner would join the Union Mine owners would have Baldwin-Felts AKA thugs forcibly evict miners from their homes. The only person with legal standing who stood with coal miners was Chief of Police in Matewan, Mingo County, West Virginia. In May 1920 Private Detectives arrived in Matewan and evicted several families from their homes. When Chief of Police Sid Hatfield approached the Private Detectives and asked to see their Writ, a gun fight erupted.

That hostile encounter made the famous gun fight at O.K. Corral look like a social gathering among friends. Within a very short time 10 people were killed outright. Dead were seven Baldwin-felts thugs, two coal miners and Mayor Cabell C. Testerman. Chief of Police Hatfield and the Mayor had been offered bribes not to interfere with the Baldwin-Felts thugs when they were evicting miners from their homes. Hatfield and the Mayor refused bribes and stood with the miners. Months later Chief of Police Sid Hatfield was summoned to McDowell County Courthouse. Sid was informed since Matewan was in Mingo County the carrying of his weapon was not authorized and he was to come unarmed. On Aug. 21, 1921 Sid Hatfield and his friend Edward Chambers accompanied by their wives started up the courthouse steps in Welch, McDowell County, West Virginia. When ascending the steps Hatfield and Chambers were brutally murdered by the Baldwin-Felts thugs’ detective agency.

Think about it, an unarmed chief of police and his friend murdered in front of their wives on McDowell county courthouse steps. No one was ever convicted of these crimes. There was an outpouring of grief by miners and their families; for they had lost the one person with legal standing who supported them against the Thugs. Several thousand miners attend Sid’s funeral with rites being gave by the Odd Fellows Knights of Pythias.

Once Sid’s funeral was over miners begin organizing for the largest uprising in the history of the United States since the American Civil War. Late August and early Sept. 1921 about 10,000 coal miners confronted about 3,000 supporters of the mine owners in Logan, West Virginia. The Miner’s leader Bill Blizzard for identification purposes, instructed participants to place a red bandana around their necks. Thus and forevermore the name Red Neck was born as a Moniker for strong willed hard working poor folks. President Warren Harding sent federal troops in to stop the battle at a place called Blair Mountain, Logan County, WV. The battle of Blair Mountain was later referred to as the Gettysburg of American Labor movement. The Military commander was renowned General Billy Mitchell who actually ordered planes to drop bombs on the Miners. The Red Neck Miners knowing full well they could not defeat America’s Army was left with no alternative but to surrender.

The lack of equal treatment for miners and their families by the government lead to this armed confrontation. There had been an absolute failure in each Branch of our Government to enforce the rule of law. Today the citizens which the government has been and still is ignoring are better educated and equipped to address the Government for redress of grievances. They do this in court and the voting booths. However, those protective rights are being usurped and subverted in a clandestine manner instigated by the progressive movement. We have individuals like Clinton and Obama stacking courts with judges who do not follow the rule of law. Instead those Judges disregard our Constitution and make decisions based on warped planks in the Progressive Movement platform.

We have illegal immigrants voting in our elections and elected leaders in sanctuary cities condoning and enabling criminal acts. The expenditures for these illegal activities are being paid by American taxpayers. These illicit acts have already put American Citizens in debt $20 Trillion dollars. The majority of the national press is mentally limited and stands with the criminally minded Progressive Movement on every fabricated divisive social engineering issue. The disgraceful and bias ways the press reports news was first noticed on my first return from Vietnam. We had reporters like Walter Cronkite substituting their bias opinions for our military leader’s professional judgment. One of the more shocking eye opening statements occurred when Dan Rather stated on national television, if he was in a combat theater of operations with our military and discovered enemy forces were approaching to attack our troops “he would not inform the American units.” Another stunning news report was when a reporter exposed on national television the location where congress and the President are to be taken in the event America becomes involved in a major war.

Public opinion of the press has deteriorated so low many truthful poles have the media ranked below congress. A record number of American’s believe the media to be immoral, inaccurate and biased. The press is no longer considered a watch dog for American citizens. Most knowledgeable Americans now consider the media an attack mongrel and mouth piece for the warped illegal Progressive Movement. It is time for America to ask for divine intervention, because no help will be provided by the majority of our elected leaders whose corrosive intentions are directed toward America’s Constitution and the rule of law.

Arthur L Thorne is a resident of Jacksonville.

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